Giovanni Salvemini facts for kids
Giovanni Salvemini di Castiglione (born January 15, 1708, died October 11, 1791) was an important Italian mathematician and astronomer. He was also known as Jean de Castillon. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in London.
Life of Giovanni Salvemini
Giovanni Salvemini was born on January 15, 1708, in Castiglione del Valdarno, Italy. His father, Giuseppe Salvemini, was a diplomat and lawyer. His mother was Maria Maddalena Lucia Braccesi. Giovanni was taught at home by tutors. Later, he went to a seminary in Florence.
He studied law and mathematics at the University of Pisa. He earned his doctorate degree on March 3, 1730. In 1732, he started a job at the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. However, his religious beliefs changed. Because of this, he left his job and moved to Switzerland in 1736. In 1737, he officially joined the Calvinist faith in Geneva.
Salvemini settled in Vevey, near Lausanne, Switzerland. In August 1737, he became the principal of a school there. He taught at this school until 1748. He was let go, partly because of his strict teaching style. After struggling to find work in Switzerland, he moved to the Netherlands. In 1751, he got a job teaching mathematics and astronomy at the University of Utrecht. He earned a second doctorate there in 1754, using the name Johann Castillon. The next year, he became a professor of mathematics and philosophy. He was also the rector (head) of the university from 1758 to 1759.
In 1763, Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia, invited Salvemini to Berlin. He wanted Salvemini to teach mathematics to his army officers. Salvemini had been a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences since 1755. In 1764, he became a full member. That same year, Salvemini moved to Berlin. In 1765, he became the First Astronomer at the Berlin Observatory. He lived in Berlin for the rest of his life. Even after having a stroke in 1787, he kept working until he passed away.
Family Life
In 1745, Giovanni married Elizabeth du Fresne. They had three children, but only one, Maximilian Friedrich Gustav Adolf Salvemini, survived. Elizabeth passed away in 1757. In 1759, he married Madeleine Ravené in Amsterdam. He also met the Scottish writer James Boswell in both Utrecht and Berlin. Boswell wrote about some of their conversations.
Giovanni's son, Frederick Salvemini de Castillon (1747-1814), also became a member of the Berlin Academy. He was also a writer for Diderot's Encyclopédie, a famous French encyclopedia.
Contributions to Mathematics
In 1745, Giovanni Salvemini was chosen to be a member of the Royal Society in London. This is a very old and respected scientific group. In 1765, King Frederick the Great made him the "Astronomer Royal" for the Berlin Observatory.
He also received honors from other academies around the world. He became a member of the Academy of Bologna in 1768. He joined the Academy of Mannheim in 1777, the Academy of Padua in 1784, and the Academy of Prague in 1785. After Joseph-Louis Lagrange, another famous mathematician, Salvemini became the Director of the Mathematics Section of the Berlin Academy. He held this important role until he died.
Salvemini studied different areas of mathematics. He worked on conic sections, which are shapes like circles and ellipses. He also studied cubic equations, a type of algebra problem. He helped solve problems related to artillery (big guns used in war). He is also famous for solving a geometry problem known as the Cramer–Castillon problem.
Main Works
- Discours sur l'origine d'inegalite parmi les hommes. Pour servir de reponse au discours que M Rouseau (1756)
- Mémoire sur la règle de Cardan, et sur les equations cubique, avec Quelques Remarques sur les equations en général (1783)
- Examen philosophique de principes de quelque algebra (1790 and 1791)
